


Invisible

by stinkyworms



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Gen, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Past Abuse, Post-Canon, found family is my weakness, hes back and smaller than ever, not beetlebabes because everything has to come with that warning, this was basically an excuse to write him as a kid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:55:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24525742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stinkyworms/pseuds/stinkyworms
Summary: Beetlejuice was a fool for thinking he could stroll back into the Netherworld, having killed his mom, and just get away with it.Of course, Lydia finds him after he is banished for the second time. But he's different, and he doesn't remember her. Or why he's been sent to the living world at all.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz
Comments: 53
Kudos: 167





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly I've just wanted to write lil!Beej for ages and quarantine has given me the excuse. Let me know what you think.

If there was one positive thing Lydia could say about her new school in Connecticut, it was that the bike ride home was her favourite part. Not because it meant the school day was over (although that was certainly a factor), but because the meandering roads took her past the local cemetery. The route she took was not unique to her, however, and most of the time she had to keep up the pretence of not being the Weird Girl who finds graveyards relaxing and has two ghosts living in her attic, around the other girls at school. Most of the time, it worked. She hadn’t quite found friends she could completely be herself with, but she was fine with pretending for now.

This time, however, as she rode past the gates to the cemetery and did her usual glace over at the graves of the Maitlands, visible due to their close proximity to the metal fencing that surrounded the graveyard, something made her slam on her brakes. A kid, a boy, couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven, was jumping up and down, waving in the faces of the crowd of school kids as they passed by him, seemingly completely unaware of his presence. Lydia had not seen other ghosts since her first encounter with the Maitlands, but she new one when she saw it. It was not the mere fact that this kid was clearly dead and invisible that made her heartrate speed up, however.

Violet hair stood practically upright on his head. He didn’t seem to be wearing any shoes, but a tattered shirt was big enough to cover most of his body, and behind him he dragged an all-too-familiar black and white striped jacket.

“Lydia, you okay?” The voice of one of her friends she had been riding with dragged her out of the stupor she was in.

“I, uh, realised I left something in my locker” She forced out, her voice more shaky than she was comfortable with “I’m gonna have to go back for it, I’ll see you Monday, okay?”

Luckily, the complete lack of empathy that afflicted most teenage girls meant that the girls she was riding with didn’t seem to want to question her further. Her friends shrugged, gave her a half-hearted “see you Monday”, and began to ride away. Despite this, Lydia made a show of turning her bike around and cycling against the crowd back up the hill in the direction of her school.

Once at the top of the hill, she once again stopped and began waiting for the crowd to thin out. She could see the kid – _Her friend? Enemy? Late husband? Murder victim?_ Her brain supplied unhelpfully for her, the last two in particular making bile rise in her throat – still attempting to get someone’s attention. She could she his lips moving, but was too far to hear his words, and he looked like he was crying.

After a minute of waiting, she watched as Beetlejuice – which was the only title, she had decided, was going to work – seemed to give up, and pushed himself back through the metal bars of the cemetery. Not wanting to lose him completely, she sprung back into action, cycling down the hill to the cemetery gates.

As usual, the graveyard was deserted, the only noise coming from the stragglers of the school crowd still on the road. Lydia had lost sight of Beetlejuice in her effort to get down here, and now she didn’t know where to start looking. She walked deeper into the cemetery, bike alongside her.

Any doubt in being able to find him, however, was quickly evaporated when she heard sniffling coming from her left. Following the noise, Lydia came across a large headstone she knew had not been there a day ago. On it was inscribed only “Lawrence ‘Betelgeuse’ Shoggoth”. No birthday, no deathday. No other information of any kind.

At the foot of the headstone, in a shallow grave only about two feet deep, lay the stripey jacket Lydia would recognise anywhere. The sound of sniffling breaths seemed to be coming from under it. Lydia sucked in a breath, lay down her bike and knelt on the edge of the hole.

“Beetlejuice?” She said, probably louder than she originally intended.

The bundle at the bottom of the grave shifted. Lydia watched as a shock of violet hair emerged first, followed by a now dirt-covered and tear-stained face. _It’s him_ , she thought immediately. He looked different, obviously, the stubble that had adorned his face obviously gone, but it was _him_.

The two stared at each other in similar states of disbelief for what felt like a solid minute, before Beetlejuice whispered in a voice that sounded all too familiar.

“You can see me?”

Lydia nodded back. So, he apparently didn’t recognise her. Was this a trick? She watched as he righted himself, wiped at his teary eyes with one sleeve (which just seemed to wipe more dirt onto his face), and began to climb out of what appeared to be his own grave. She tried not to flinch has he extended one dirty hand towards her face and touched her cheek.

“You’re alive” He said in a quiet voice.

“Yes” Was all she could think to say. She was still waiting for this to be some stupid trick. She never would have put it past him to not come barrelling back into her life, like nothing had happened.

It had been over a year since the “Juicening”, as Delia had bizarrely coined it. Even more bizarrely, it somehow stuck. It wasn’t something they discussed often, and especially not around Barbara, who made an excuse to leave as soon as even a hint of talking about that insane week of their lives (or deaths) was brought up.

Lydia’s feelings on the matter were, of course, conflicted. It didn’t help, of course that she couldn’t openly discuss any details with her therapist. How do you talk about how the only thing that stopped you killing yourself was a needy demon begging you to be his friend? How do you discuss that he had been there for her when she felt the whole world was against her? How do you discuss how only a few days later he betrayed you and tried to kill your own father? How do you discuss _marrying him just to murder him?_

“Who are you?” Lydia was snapped out of her thoughts by Beetlejuice, who had copied her kneeling next to the open grave, too close for comfort, his knee touching her leg. At this range, she could see that the roots of his hair were starting to turn green. “I’m Lawrence, but I guess you knew that”. He gestured awkwardly to the headstone.

“Lydia” She said, shuffling a couple centimetres away from him. He didn’t seem to notice. “What, uh, are you doing here?”

The green in Beetlejuice’s hair began to recede, making way for violet. His face looked worried. “I… I don’t know.” He scratched his chin, “This is the living world, I haven’t ever been allowed to come here before. Nobody else can see me and none of my powers are working.”

As if to demonstrate, he flicked out a hand. Predictably, nothing happened, but the look of disappointment was evident on his face.

Lydia felt like if this was a joke, it had gone on too long. Beetlejuice wasn’t smart enough, or patient enough, to maintain a ruse this long-lasting. She ran a hand through the ends of her hair. She was going to regret this. “Do you… Do you want to come somewhere… Else? My house? You probably shouldn’t stay in a graveyard, I mean.”

The effect was immediate. Beetlejuice’s eyes lit up and he whispered something under his breath that Lydia failed to catch, but almost certainly included the word ‘friend’. He jumped up and grabbed onto her upper arm.

“Yes!...” He seemed to catch himself and let go of her, “Uh, please, Lydia”. He smiled what Lydia assumed was supposed to be a friendly smile, but in reality, showed all his teeth and fangs, a stark reminder that he was _not human and this is such a bad idea oh my god._

Lydia smiled back and picked up her bike. Beetlejuice scooped the, now oversized, jacket out of the shallow grave, but she decided not to ask why he wanted to bring it.

“Let’s go then.”

\---------------------------------------

If Lydia was worried about looking like she was talking to herself on the way home, her fears where quickly assuaged by the fact that, now that he seemed comfortable with her, Beetlejuice could talk enough for both of them. He pointed out every tree, bug and squirrel they came across on the short walk home, apparently overly excited by the mundane. Lydia couldn’t really blame him, her short stay in the Netherworld had shown her that wherever he came from, there probably wasn’t much interesting to look at.

Still, she breathed a sigh of relief when they got to the front door of her house. Relief quickly cut short by the fact that no, the hard part wasn’t even over.

Friday was her dad and Delia’s date night, so they wouldn’t be home til at least 10. She could work with that. The Maitlands, however, were a whole different problem. She paused with the key in the lock, trying to formulate a plan. Beetlejuice bobbed excitedly next to her, his hair completely back to its usual green. Here goes nothing.

She creaked open the front door. Empty. The living room was clear. She listened out for signs of life - _or death_ her mind filled for her – coming from the ground floor but all seemed quiet. Adam and Barbara were probably in the attic.

She motioned back to Beetlejuice, who had been peering around the doorframe trying to get a good look inside, to come in. He smiled and dramatically jumped the threshold. Lydia stopped him with a hand on his shoulder before he could run inside and pulled him over to the couch.

“I need you to wait here a minute while I go upstairs.” She caught the flash of worry that crossed his face and added, “I’ll just be a minute, I promise. I have some friends upstairs that I want to introduce you to”.

That seemed to reassure him a bit, and he nodded at her, chewing on the joint of his thumb.

Lydia put the TV on for him as he clambered onto the couch. However, as she made her way to the staircase, she could feel his eyes on her back.

\---------------------------------

Knocking on the attic door seemed like the hardest thing Lydia had ever done. What was she supposed to say to them? “Oh hey, remember that demon that terrorised your lives for a week and nearly double-killed Barbara? Well he’s back and he’s smaller now and I don’t think he even knows who we are”. Lydia groaned and bit the bullet, rapping her knuckles lightly on the door.

It was Adam who answered, smiling warmly at her the way the Maitlands always did when she was around, like she was the greatest not-daughter that anyone could ask for and not a complete emotional mess of a gothy teen. It made her heart hurt sometimes. Adams eyes drifted to the mud on her cheek that Beetlejuice had left behind, then the mud on her jeans where she had been kneeling. Immediately, concern flashed across his face.

“Lydia? What’s wrong? Has something happened?”

The sound of worry in his voice brought Barbara into the doorframe, her hands resting on Adam’s shoulders. Her face echoed her husbands. God, what did Lydia do to deserve them?

“No, nothing’s hap- Well yes, _something’s_ happened- No wait, I’m saying this wrong.” She pulled at the strands of hair that framed her face. Adam and Barbara shared a glance at each other. This wasn’t going smoothly at all. “Maybe you should just come downstairs and see for yourself? Just, don’t freak out, okay?”

Lydia caught another concerned glance between them as she spun around and started descending the stairs back down to the ground floor, much faster than she had come up them. At times like this, Lydia was thankful for the Maitlands for their habit of following human laws of physics and social conventions, choosing to follow her down the stairs and not simply teleporting themselves into the living room.

When she got to the bottom, she saw Beetlejuice had not moved from the spot on the couch where she left him. When he saw her his eyes widened and he spun around to pretend he had been watching the TV this whole time.

“Um, Lawrence?” She called out to him, deciding to use the name he had chosen earlier, instead of the one she was used to. He spun around again and jumped over the back of the couch to catch up to her.

“LAWRENCE?” Beetlejuice stopped in his tracks at the sound of his named being yelled by the two ghosts halfway down the staircase. In a second, they had zapped themselves on either side of Lydia, cold hands protectively on her shoulders. _Social conventions and physics be damned, I guess,_ she thought _._

There were a few seconds of complete silence where Lydia thought her heart might finally give up on trying to keep her alive, as the Maitlands stared at the 4 foot 5 inch intruder. The silence was, predictably, broken by Beetlejuice.

“Ghosts!” He shouted, excitedly. Looking at Lydia, “This is why I’m here! My mom must’ve sent me here!” He ran up to Barbara, who visibly shrank away from him, and stuck out a hand. Clearing his throat, he practically yelled at her, “Hi! I’ll be your guide!”.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god guys, I got so much positive feedback from the first chapter so I've decided to continue it! THANK YOU to everyone who took the time to read, comment and kudos this thing. I will respond to comments, I promise! I just suck at it. Everyone seemed to like lil!Beej (a sweet bug-filled muffin of a child) so I decided to write this chapter from his POV. Will probably alternate between BJ and Lydias POVs. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you enjoy it! Feel free to leave a comment on what you liked/disliked, I really appreciate it!

This was it, the day he’d been waiting for. Wishing, hoping, working, and praying for. The day his mom had been delaying for years. He was gonna do some Guiding! Lawrence had read _The Ultimate Guide to Guiding: How to Deal with Newly-deads and Moving On (123 rd Edition)_, as well as his tattered copy of _The Handbook for the Recently Deceased (81 st Edition), _at least a hundred times, cover to cover. Overall, he felt pretty confident in his abilities to help the couple of ghosts Lydia had brought downstairs for him to meet move on to the Netherworld.

Until now, of course, his mother had never approved of his choice in career. _Guiding is for ghosts Lawrence_ , he could practically hear her harsh voice in his head, _You’re a demon, and you’ll get a respectable job, I won’t have any son of mine doing grunt work._

But he was here, wasn’t he? He must have convinced her to let him try it, somehow. Why couldn’t he remember? His brain hurt trying to think of what had happened before he woke up in that grave.

 _Maybe this is a test,_ he thought, and steeled himself to do a good job. His mom would see, he would be the best Guide this side of the five planes of existence!

Chapter 1 of _The Guide_ stated that recently deceased humans were often scared and anxious, because most of the time this was their first death and they didn’t know how to deal with it. Therefore, it was important to show that you, the Guide, could be a friendly presence to ease them into accepting their recent change in circumstances.

So Lawrence stuck out a hand at the woman in front of him, like he had seen humans do to each other in the Waiting Room outside his moms office, put on his best smile and clearly stated, “Hi! I’ll be your Guide”.

The woman shrunk away from him, clearly a little upset. Maybe she was scared, like _The Guide_ said she might be? Lawrence waited a couple of seconds for her to calm down, smile not wavering.

Now she was looking at Lydia, who had her head in her hands. Lawrence decided to change tact and pivoted to the man, hand outstretched to him instead. The man flinched when he moved.

“I’m Lawrence” he prompted.

“Uh, Adam” The man, Adam, said to him, without making a move to shake his hand. Lawrence retracted the arm, feeling a little silly for trying. Maybe it was a human-only thing?

“Hello Adam”, _The Guide_ Chapter 2 said to always acknowledge the newly-deads names, as it made them feel more comfortable.

But before he could get any more progress done, the female ghost interrupted him.

“What is happening?” She said, looking at Adam, “Why are you speaking to him?”

“He doesn’t know us, Barbara” Lydia said. Lawrence made a mental note that the other ghost was called _Barbara_.

“And you believe him?” Barbara snapped back at her.

“Yes, I do. I spent some time with him, and I really don’t think he’s lying. And-” Lydia’s voice dropped to almost a whisper, “I haven’t actually said his name. I didn’t, you know, _summon_ him. He just showed up. He’s powerless.”

They were talking about Lawrence like he wasn’t there. Normally, this would be okay. His mother did this with other adults all the time, and he knew better than to try and interrupt them. However, this was different. This was his first chance to Guide. And _The Guide_ Chapter 4 stated that a good Guide is one that stays in control of a situation.

“All ghosts should proceed directly to the Netherworld,” He stated, quoting _The Handbook_. All three humans turned their attention back to him. Their expressions strange and unreadable. Was he too loud?

Suddenly, he felt his confidence wavering. This Guiding was going horribly. He wasn’t dressed appropriately (where had this shirt come from? Why wasn’t he wearing shoes?) and he didn’t even have his copy of _The Handbook._ Why had his mother sent him to the Living World so unprepared? Was this part of the test?

“So, you should, um,” he continued, “We need to draw a doo- “

“We aren’t going to the Netherworld” Barbara interrupted him, “And certainly not with _you_ ”.

Her expression reminded him of his mother’s whenever she was disgusted at him for doing the human things he liked to do sometimes, like sleeping, or eating bugs. Lawrence, suddenly feeling very small, took a step back and clutched at his shirt, trying to straighten it out. His eyes moved to the ground and wished it’d just swallow him up. 

“Barbara look, you’re freaking him out” Lydia was suddenly at his side, hand on his shoulder. Her living human hand felt very warm through the fabric of his shirt, “I have a stash of chocolate in my room, wanna come upstairs?”

Lawrence knew about chocolate. He had even scavenged some from a discarded tote bag in the Waiting Room after office hours, when his mother had forgotten to take him home with her. Chocolate was delicious, and something the ghosts of the Netherworld requested often, even though they didn’t need to eat anymore, so it must be precious. His mouth watered thinking about it.

But he needed to focus here!

“I can’t, I’m s-supposed to be taking these…” _Use names, Lawrence! Chapter 2!_ “Adam and Barbara need to go to the Netherworld. I’m their Guide.”

“And does that need to happen _right now?”_ Lydia asked, grabbing his hand, and gently pulling him towards the stairs. Her hand felt even warmer when it touched his bare skin, and he didn’t want her to let go, “Is there a _time-limit_ when you’re an eternal undead being?”

He racked his brain, trying to remember if _The Guide_ said anything about how quickly Guiding should be done, but he was coming up empty. Lawrence had always assumed it would be a somewhat smooth process.

“I suppose not,” Lawrence said, letting Lydia steer him along to the stairs. 

He heard Barbara mutter something to Adam, but he didn’t want to look at either of them. Instead, he was focusing on the floor, and Lydia’s hand in his. His eyes stung.

“Then come on, let’s just hang out for a bit, you can ‘guide’ them later,” Lydia said. Looking over her shoulder at the ghost couple, she murmured, “Just trust me, okay?”

Lydia lead them all the way up to her room on the third floor. In that time, he had managed to blink away most of the tears that had been threatening to spill. If Lydia noticed, she pretended not to, which was nice of her.

Lydia’s bedroom was, well, _nice._ She had a _huge_ bed (with space to crawl underneath), and there was a whole bookshelf full of books, and colourful posters on the wall of other humans in various poses. On her desk was a half-finished project of what looked like a felt sandworm, but most of its tail was missing, stuffing bleeding out of it. The stripes were wonky, and one of its button eyeballs hung loosely from its face by a piece of string.

Lydia caught him looking, “Barbara’s teaching me how to sew. Here,” She tossed him a worn-out hoodie and some pyjama bottoms. The clothes she gave him were comfy, and soft, softer than anything his mother had ever given him to wear.

Lydia squeaked and turned around when he immediately started shucking off the shirt he had been wearing all day. She stuck one arm out towards the door on her right, “The bathroom! Get changed in there. And you can wash the mud off your face”.

Feeling like he had done something wrong again, Lawrence mumbled a “Thanks,” and headed into the adjacent bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Lawrence didn’t mind being dirty, liked it even, but the way Lydia had directed him to the bathroom made it sound like it was something she wanted him to do if he was going to continue being in her presence. His dirtiness had possibly also contributed to his disastrous Guiding, so he did his best to scrub the mud from his body using one of her towels.

Catching sight of himself in the mirror, Lawrence’s hand flew up to run his fingers through his hair. Purple, again. He needed to get a grip on that, or his mother would throw a fit. Lydia had already seen, though, and she hadn’t commented, so he figured she didn’t mind too much. 

He put the clothes Lydia had given him on, taking a moment to revel in the softness, and carefully hung the shirt he had woken up in on the same rack he had taken the towel from.

When he emerged from the bathroom, Lydia was hunched over a box. She smiled conspiratorially at him and motioned to come join her.

As it turned out, the stash of chocolate Lydia had been talking about was much more substantial than the few triangles of Toblerone Lawrence had been picturing in his head. For one, she had _many_ different types, that came in multiple different shapes, not just triangles! And they came in different _flavours_. And Lydia was letting him try it all! His favourite, he decided, was the one she had given him while giggling mischievously. It had fizzed and popped in his mouth, something he didn’t know _food could even do._ Chocolate, he decided, was the best thing humans had invented.

Just as he stuffed his mouth with another piece of what Lydia had called a ‘chocolate orange’, she asked him a question, “Why do you call yourself Lawrence and not Beetlejuice?”

The sound of his middle name sent a surge of electricity from deep in his chest all the way up to his scalp. It was like he had felt in the graveyard. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, like the popping candy had been, it was more like someone was running a burning hand from his heart, up his spine and through his hair. He swallowed the chocolate.

“That’s my name,” He answered, wanting to follow it up with _Betelgeuse is my middle name._ But… Something was stopping him. His brain could form the sentence, but his throat refused to cooperate. The more he tried, the more he felt like those same burning hands that had touched him earlier were holding his jaw closed, stopping him from saying the words.

Lydia was looking at him strangely again, “And Beetlejuice isn’t?”

The sensation again, hands on his spine, his head, behind his eyes. He screwed his eyes shut and stood up, panic overtaking him. “STOP SAYING THAT,” he hadn’t meant to scream at her, but the hands had finally let go of his jaws and he just wanted to make her _stop_ and he felt like his chest was about to explode.

Two things happened at once, Lydia fell back, looking startled at his sudden outburst, and the door to her bedroom flew open. In ran Adam and Barbara, their faces a mixture of anger and fear. In her hand, Barbara clutched something he recognised, _The Handbook for the Recently Deceased._ Unhelpfully, all his brain could provide was a hint of jealousy that _she had a more recent edition than him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that these chapters are quite small, I dont get a lot of time to write, but hopefully I can update fairly often as a trade-off!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a while to update, I got distracted with *gestures to all the BtlJ fic on my ao3*

_Everything is going to shit,_ Lydia thought, simply, as the room descended into chaos. One minute, everything had been going absolutely fine, and she was finally starting to relax around the newly reappeared demon. Then she had made the mistake of bringing up the elephant in the room. Lydia had no idea why Beetlejuice was now going by the name ‘Lawrence’. He had never mentioned having a normal name _before_.

So, she’d asked. In hindsight, maybe she should’ve seen this coming. Beetlejuice’s name was tied to summoning him, and she had seen before the physical reaction it provoked in him when someone said it. But she hadn’t thought it _hurt._ But she’d said it, and watched as his eyes widened and he choked on the chocolate in his mouth. Then she’d said it again, and he’s clutched at his chest.

She shouldn’t have said it twice, but she wanted to know. That was stupid. And he’d freaked out. For a second, it reminded her so much of his adult self. Scarlet red hair and a scowl that was a stark reminder that he was _not human._ But then it had shifted immediately to fear, his eyes wide and watching her as she flinched away from him, and he was just a kid again.

But it was too late, and the Maitlands were apparently _spying on them._ Lydia felt a wave of annoyance that they didn’t trust her. She stood up from her crouched position over the chocolate stash (now mostly empty wrappers), ready to give them a piece of her mind. But something made her stop. Barbara was holding their copy of The Handbook for the Recently Deceased, and was desperately flicking through the pages.

“Chapter 6,” Said Adam.

Lydia didn’t know what was in Chapter 6, she hadn’t touched The Handbook since what happened with Barbara, and even then she had only glanced through the page Beetlejuice had directed her to. She didn’t even realise that the Maitlands had _kept_ the Handbook after everything that happened. However, Beetlejuice seemed to know what Adam was referring to, because he immediately made a shrieking noise and took a step towards the Maitlands. Both of them flinched away from him, making him stop dead. He looked scared, and started babbling out apologies while furiously ringing his hands together.

“I’m _sorry,_ I can just, I’ll be good. I didn’t _mean_ to. You’re supposed to go to the Nether- I’m _sorry,”_ He cried, his voice becoming more and more desperate. Lydia could see the tips of his hair were starting to turn white, a colour she had never seen on him before.

Adam was giving him a concerned look, but Barbara had apparently found what she was looking for, and started reading out a stream of what sounded like Latin. Immediately, Beetlejuice stopped talking, and it felt like the air pressure in the room shifted, and Lydia closed her eyes as her ears popped. When she opened them again, there was an all too familiar scene in front of her. Beetlejuice was suspended in the air, his eyes rolled all the way to the back of his head, his mouth was open and he was making a strangled, guttural noise in the back of his throat.

“What have you _done?”_ Lydia screamed at the Maitlands, who looked just as scared as she felt.

“No, no no _no,”_ Barbara said, hastily flipping back a page, “It’s just supposed to _banish_ him from the house, I don’t…”

Barbara was hastily flipping through the pages, and Adam was staring at Beetlejuice hovering in the air. And neither of them were doing _anything to help._ The noises from Beetlejuice became more gargled, and Lydia noticed with horror that black liquid was bubbling up his throat and out of his mouth. She reached out a hand to grab his arm, but he didn’t react at all.

Lydia didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what was happening to him. Was he _dying?_ _Double dying?_ The thought made bile rise in Lydia’s throat. She swallowed it down, gently squeezed the arm in her hand, and took a breath.

“Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, _Beetlejuice,”_ Lydia said, her voice rising with every word.

She had no idea if it would work, of course. When Barbara was being exorcised, Beetlejuice had saved her with a casual wave of his hand. But Lydia didn’t have any other options.

There was a flash of green light, so bright Lydia couldn’t see anything else for a second. She felt Beetlejuice sag, and pulled on his arm so he fell against her. He was limp as he dropped onto her, and she went down to the floor holding him. Everything was still and silent for a moment, the only sound coming from Lydia’s quickened breathing, as Beetlejuice lay unmoving on top of her. For a second, she wondered if it was too late, and he wasn’t going to get up.

Then Beetlejuice coughed, spraying the front of Lydia’s dress with black ichor. He slowly propped himself up, but his eyes weren’t focusing properly, and he swayed slightly. Lydia sat up too, and she reached out a hand to steady him. Lydia tried not to look at the Maitlands, and part of her hoped they would just leave. Beetlejuice retched again, more of the black goo and what she suspected was a lot of chocolate coming up. She could feel him shaking under her hand as she moved to rub his back.

“Is he… okay?” Adam asked.

Lydia scowled up at the Maitlands, who both shrank back from her. They looked as scared. Barbara especially looked paler than usual, which Lydia didn’t think was possible considering she was already dead. In her hands she clutched The Handbook, now closed. Lydia gritted her teeth the sight.

“Can we just burn that thing already?” Lydia asked.

“I’m sorry Lydia,” Barbara said, her voice shaking, “We thought it might be helpful, just in case… I didn’t think… It wasn’t supposed to _hurt_ him.”

So they had planned this. Lydia couldn’t exactly blame them for wanting an option in case Beetlejuice ever showed up again. But the Handbook was _so dangerous._ And _this_ Beetlejuice… wasn’t.

At least, he wasn’t before, but she’d summoned him now.

Lydia saw Barbara and Adam’s eyes move to Beetlejuice, and she turned back to him. He seemed to have shaken off the stupor that he was in earlier. He looked like a frightened animal. His eyes, less glassy and more focused than seconds ago, were darting around the room, but always coming back to carefully watch the Maitlands. He was still shaking under Lydia’s hand.

Lydia turned her to him, hoping to try to calm him down. But the second she moved, it was like a switch had gone off. Beetlejuice flinched out of her grip, flicking out a hand at her. Lydia felt a force hit her hard in the chest, knocking her several feet away. She landed with a thud on her side, closer to Adam, who immediately bent down to try and help her up.

Beetlejuice was looking at her, wild-eyed, his hair now completely drenched in that stark white colour. He slowly took a couple steps towards the open door of the ensuite bathroom. As Lydia moved to stand, Beetlejuice twitched and the lightbulb above them exploded. Everyone jumped as glass shards rained down on them, and Beetlejuice took the distraction to bolt into the bathroom, the door slamming behind him by an unseen force.

There was tense silence in Lydia’s bedroom for a few moments. Lydia closed her eyes and moved her hands to massage her temples, already feeling a headache coming on. She felt two sets of cold hands on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry,” Barbara tried again, and she really did sound sincere.

“I know,” Lydia said, “I know you were trying to protect me. But just… Can you promise me you’ll get rid of that thing?”

“Yeah,” Barbara agreed, “We should’ve known it was dangerous. _I_ should’ve known.”

The sound of a bunch of shit being knocked over came from behind the closed bathroom door. Lydia sighed and turned to the Maitlands.

“I’m gonna go try to calm him down. Can you guys, y’know… Leave?” Lydia asked.

The Maitlands shared a concerned look, but Lydia was stubborn.

“Can you just trust me to know what I’m doing? You being here won’t help, and I don’t think he’s going to hurt me,” Lydia said, “And no spying either. If I need help, I’ll ask, okay?”

It was pretty obvious neither of them actually wanted to leave her, worry was still etched on their faces. But after a beat, Adam but his arm around Barbara and steered her towards the door.

“We’ll be upstairs,” Adam said.

Lydia shot him a grateful look, and closed the bedroom door behind them as they left. She spent a moment with her forehead rested against the cool wood of the door, trying to come up with a plan of attack. When she had pictured her Friday night, there had been Netflix and that tub of ice cream she had been saving in the freezer, not trying to coax a pint-sized demon out of the bathroom.

Lydia moved to the bathroom door and listened out for any noise. There was none, which was slightly reassuring, as it meant that Beetlejuice wasn’t actively destroying her bathroom. Lydia gave the door a gentle knock.

“Bee-, Lawrence, are you okay?” She called out. When no reply came, she continued, “It’s just me. Lydia. Can I come in?”

Still no reply. Lydia was starting to feel worried. Beetlejuice was _never_ this quiet, before. Especially not when he was upset. Had he escaped somehow? There were no proper windows in Lydia’s bathroom, but it’s not as if that would stop a shape-shifting demon.

Lydia’s hand moved to the door handle, and she slowly and carefully turned. Beetlejuice hadn’t figured out the lock, she discovered with some relief as she pulled the door open. The bathroom was dark, the light in here evidently also having been blown out. Shampoo, makeup and other items Lydia kept in the bathroom littered the floor, and some had spilled open, but otherwise the damage seemed fairly minimal.

At first, she didn’t see him at all, and her heart dropped. But then she heard a whimper from the bathtub. She took a step closer, carefully avoiding the stuff on the floor, and peered into the bathtub. Beetlejuice had curled up under his stripy jacket again, so she could only see the violet tips of some hair and one foot that was sticking out of it.

“Lawrence? Are you hurt?” Lydia tried again.

The foot disappeared under the jacket, and she heard him mumble something, too quiet to hear. He didn’t seem to be in pain, at least, and the vomiting had stopped.

“I’m sorry about what happened. Barbara and Adam were… Well, they were scared,” Lydia said, “And they didn’t mean to hurt you. But they’re really sorry they did. I promise, it won’t happen again.”

She didn’t know if any of this was getting through to him, or if it was even the right thing to say. Lydia wasn’t good at apologies, usually. In the past, she liked to shout and scream and cry her way out of her feelings. But she’d come a long way since then. But if this Beetlejuice was anything like the one she knew, he wouldn’t have a good grasp on his emotions.

“I’m not mad at you, either,” Lydia added, quickly.

That, finally, got a reaction out of him. The jacket shifted, and two hands appeared to pull it down over his face to reveal his eyes, which blinked up at Lydia. It was obvious he had been crying, possibly still crying, they were red and puffy and watery. He mumbled something again, which Lydia leaned in to hear.

“I can’t go back like this,” He said.

“Go back?” Lydia asked, unsure what he was referring to.

Beetlejuice sat up, the jacket falling into his lap. He worked the collar of it with his hands, obviously trying to hold back another wave of tears.

“To my mom,” He said, “Like this, she’s gonna be… I messed up _so much.”_

He curled over, bringing the collar of the jacket up to his face as he started sobbing again. Lydia sighed, and swung her legs over the side of the bathtub to climb in with him. It was an extremely tight fit, but she managed to awkwardly position herself so she could pull him into a hug. He shivered when she touched him, and he pressed his face into crook of her neck. His skin was ice cold and wet with tears, but she allowed it.

“You don’t have to leave,” She said, “Not yet.”

His breath hitched, but he didn’t respond.

“And you got your powers back, right?” Lydia continued, hoping to change the subject that was clearly upsetting him.

“Oh, yeah!” He said, pulling away from her, and looking at the mess around him. He flicked out a hand, and the various bottles that were scattered on the floor jumped up and returned to their shelves, albeit not in the same positions they originally were. Beetlejuice gave her a sheepish smile.

“Thanks,” Lydia said, and ruffled his hair. It was surprisingly soft. Not matted and greasy like his older counterparts had been.

She started to climb out of the tub, and Beetlejuice made a move to follow her. However, the sound of the front door opening then slamming shut made them both pause. The shrill noise of Delia’s laughter followed, and Beetlejuice sank back down into the tub. He was clearly a little frightened, and was looking at Lydia like he was waiting for her to tell him what to do. But she didn’t know. Her reintroducing Beetlejuice to the Maitlands had gone horribly, and her dad was an even scarier concept. Part of her wanted him to hide away in her tub forever, and just be her secret. But that was impossible, of course, she was going to have to face the music.

“C’mon,” She turned said to Beetlejuice, “You’ll have to come meet my parents.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I know these chapters are super short! 
> 
> If you wanna come chat with me you can find me at hellminth.tumblr.com - I love talking about hcs so feel free to slide into my DMs with yours


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